II
(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory)
DECISIONS
COMMISSION
COMMISSION DECISION
of 23 April 2008
on specific child safety requirements to be met by European standards for lighters pursuant to
Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2008/357/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,
Having regard to Directive 2001/95/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 ongeneral product safety, (
1) and in particular Article 4(1)(a),
Whereas:
(1) Directive 2001/95/EC lays down the obligation for
producers to place only safe products on the market.
(2) According to Directive 2001/95/EC a product shall bepresumed safe, as far as the risks and risk categoriescovered by relevant national standards are concerned,when it conforms to voluntary national standards trans-posing European standards.
(3) Directive 2001/95/EC provides that European standardsshould be established by European standardisationbodies. Such standards should ensure that productssatisfy the general safety requirement of the Directive.(4) Lighters are inherently dangerous products since theyproduce a flame or heat and because they contain aflammable liquid or gas, often under pressure. Themost evident potential risks associated with the misuseof lighters are fires, burns and bursts that can lead to anexplosion in the presence of a heat source.
(5) Lighters are not intended for children. Nevertheless,misuse of lighters, especially by young children, is notinfrequent and must be considered when assessing thesafety of such products. This is particularly relevant fordisposable lighters, which are sold in huge numbers,often in multi-packs and used by consumers as low-value, throwaway products, as well as for lighterswhich are particularly appealing to young childrenbecause they have a shape or entertaining featuresconsidered attractive for children.
(6) Misuse of lighters by young children may lead to firescausing considerable personal and economic damages,including deaths. Therefore, lighters present a seriousrisk with regard to the misuse by children.
(7) In 1998 the Commission issued standardisation mandateNo M/266 to CEN relative to the safety of consumersand children with respect to lighters, which resulted inthe European Standard EN 13869:2002: Lighters —
Child-resistance for lighters —Safety requirements and
test methods.EN 7.5.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 120/11
(1) OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.(8) Given the fact that the health and safety of consumers is
endangered, in particular, by the ability and likelihood ofyoung children to operate and misuse lighters, and thatthis risk can be eliminated effectively only by appropriatemeasures applicable at Community level, theCommission adopted on 11 May 2006 Decision2006/502/EC (
1) under the provisions of Article 13 of
Directive 2001/95/EC requiring Member States to take
measures to ensure that only lighters which are child-
resistant are placed on the market and to prohibit theplacing on the market of novelty lighters.
(9) Given the fact that Decisions adopted under Article 13 ofDirective 2001/95/EC are temporary measures with avalidity of maximum one year, and may be prolongedby periods of maximum one year each, the Commissionadopted on 12 April 2007 Decision 2007/231/EC (
2)
extending the validity of Decision 2006/502/EC by oneyear.
(10) Although EN 13869 has not been referenced in theOfficial Journal in accordance with the provisions ofDirective 2001/95/EC, Commission Decision2006/502/EC does give presumption of conformity tolighters which conform to national standards transposingEN 13869.
(11) In view of the need to make use of appropriate technicalsolutions for the evaluation of the child safetyrequirements of lighters, the Member States and the
Commission, in co-operation with the European stan-
dardisation organisations and after consultation of stake-holders, have identified the need for a revision ofEN 13869.
(12) The main problem identified with the current standard isthe reliance on child panel testing for verifying whether alighter is indeed child-resistant. While child panel testinghas shown to be a reliable method, it would be appro-priate to identify alternative methods for determining thechild resistance of lighters, provided any alternatives areat least as effective and reliable. Next to this, the existingdefinition of lighters which are particularly appealing tochildren (novelty lighter) is open to interpretation, whichmay lead to an uneven application of the ban on suchlighters. Finally, a number of other issues need to beaddressed to allow the standard to completely satisfy its
role by providing the appropriate technical solutions.
(13) The specific child safety requirements for lighters shouldbe drawn up under the provisions of article 4 ofDirective 2001/95/EC, with the aim to request the stan-dardisation bodies to revise EN 13869, according to theprocedure laid down in Directive 98/34/EC (
3) for the
provision of information in the field of technicalstandards and regulations, and to allow the publicationin the Official Journal of the revised standard.
(14) Once the reference to the revised standard has beenpublished in the Official Journal, lighters manufacturedin compliance with the standard shall be presumed toconform to the general safety requirement of Directive2001/95/EC on general product safety, as far as thespecific child safety requirements covered by thestandard are concerned.
(15) The measures provided for in this Decision are inaccordance with the opinion of the Committee set upunder Directive 2001/95/EC,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
Purpose
The purpose of this Decision is to establish the requirements on
the basis of which the Commission may request the relevantstandardisation bodies to amend the relevant standard forlighters.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Decision:
‘lighter ’shall mean a manually operated flame-producing device
employing a fuel, normally used for deliberately igniting inparticular cigarettes, cigars and pipes, and which may fore-seeably be used to ignite materials such as paper, wicks,candles and lanterns, manufactured with an integral supply offuel, whether intended to be refueled or not.EN L 120/12 Official Journal of the European Union 7.5.2008
(1) OJ L 198, 20.7.2006, p. 41.
(2) OJ L 99, 14.4.2007, p. 16. (3) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37.‘child-resistant lighter ’shall mean a lighter designed and manu-
factured in such a way that it cannot, under normal orreasonably foreseeable conditions of use, be operated bychildren younger than 51 months of age because of, forinstance, the force needed to operate it or because of itsdesign or the protection of its ignition mechanism, or thecomplexity or sequence of operations needed for the ignition.
‘child-appealing lighter ’shall mean a lighter whose design
resembles by any means to another object commonlyrecognised as appealing to, or intended for use by, childrenyounger than 51 months of age.
Article 2
Requirements
(1) For the purpose of Article 4 of Directive 2001/95/EC, the
specific child safety requirements for lighters shall be thefollowing:
(a) Lighters shall be child-resistant to minimise the ability and
likelihood of children younger than 51 months of age tooperate them;
(b) Lighters shall not be appealing to children younger than 51
months of age.(2) Paragraph 1(a) shall not apply to lighters intended to be
refuelled for which producers provide on request to thecompetent authorities the necessary documentation substan-tiating that the lighters are designed, manufactured and placedon the market such as to ensure a continual expected safe useover a lifetime of at least five years, subject to repair, and whichfulfil in particular all of the following requirements:
(a) a written guarantee from the producer of at least two years
for each lighter, in accordance with Directive 1999/44/EC ofthe European Parliament and of the Council (
1);
(b) the practical possibility to be repaired and safely refilled
over the entire lifetime, including in particular a repairableignition mechanism;
(c) parts that are not consumable, but are likely to wear out or
fail in continual use after the guarantee period, areaccessible for replacement or repair by an authorised orspecialised after-sales service centre based in the EuropeanUnion.
Done at Brussels, 23 April 2008.
For the Commission
Meglena KUNEVA
Member of the CommissionEN 7.5.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 120/13
(1) OJ L 171, 7.7.1999, p. 12.